Child development studies have clearly demonstrated the benefits of early visual stimulation for learning and entertainment. Furthermore, such visual stimulation must be presented within the visual field of the infant, of a form the infant can perceive, and for a suitable period of time.
Infants between birth and six (6) months of age typically spend a significant amount of time lying on their backs in strollers facing upwards. This position is now considered the healthiest for infants. While positioned in a stroller an infant has nothing to provide visual stimuli, except the inside of the stroller hood as manufactured. This customarily fails to meet the requirements before mentioned for maximizing educational effect.
Conventional methods and apparatus for visual stimulation of infants, such as crib mobiles, books, flash cards, and television are impractical, inappropriate, and/or ineffective for infants lying on their backs in strollers.
Crib mobiles allow an infant lying under them only to view their underside, this is typically small in surface area, and limited in use. While typically entertaining to adults located nearby, mobiles often fail to adequately stimulate the infant. Additionally, crib mobiles are not well suited for carriages. As carriages are mobile in nature, movement of the carriage may generate a swinging motion of a mobile which may present an unsafe condition for an infant lying therein. Furthermore, crib mobiles exhibit the inability to readily change the pictorial source of visual stimulation as is necessary to optimize educational effect.
Books and flash cards allow for such a changing of the pictorial source of visual stimulation but require the assistance of an older individual to hold for and read to the infant.
Television or video display monitors provide an entire new class of problems. Each requires a portable power source and imposes risks of radiation, electrocution, injury due to fall and the like. The cost, weight, and risks of these systems all make them inappropriate.
While a search of relevant patent literature discloses several patents relating to the presentation of visual stimuli to children, none discloses a method for the visual stimulation of infants lying on their backs in strollers which allows for easy modification of the visual image resulting in said stimulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,678 (Heffernan Et Al.) Discloses a cloth crib canopy which may contain certain pictorial designs. The designs are effectively on the underside of the cover, within the visual field of the infant, and provide limited visual stimuli and entertainment for the infant, however the designs forementioned, on the underside of the crib canopy, are permanent in nature, and cannot be readily changed as is necessary for optimal educational effect. Additionally, Heffernan teaches a method of attachment not readily applicable to strollers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,796 (Dollar) teaches a method for delivering visual stimulation to a child lying in a crib. A substantially flat panel of transparent rigid material, such as Plexiglass (methyl acrylic plastic) is described. However the substantially flat rigid panel is inappropriate for use in a stroller as attachment and safety are significant hurdles to any such use. The Plexiglass panel would be inflexible and difficult to attach, also the risk of injury to the infant would be significant as a substantially flat rigid panel of significant weight would be suspended above the infants head. Additionally, like Heffernan, the method of attachment taught in Dollar would be inapplicable for stroller hoods as no "top railings" over which said substantially flat rigid panel can be placed and affixed typically exists.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,888 (Gottschalk) teaches a bell shaped plastic device. While Gottschalk addresses the issue of providing stimulation for a child lying on his back in a stroller, it contains the same design flaw as illustrated in Heffernan, the inability to readily change the pictorial source of visual stimulation which, as discussed, is necessary to optimize educational effect.
Thus, it is the object of the present invention to address the need of providing effective visual stimulation, capable of easy modification, for infants lying on their backs in strollers.